Immediately after Avril, Dylan, and Listeard left the old, semi-basement room.

Alois, after having secretly watched the three depart, cautiously emerged from his hiding place along with a subordinate. Then, he gave his orders.

“Hurry. We don’t know when they’ll be back.”

“Understood.”

While urging on the subordinate, he entered the room Avril and the others had been in moments ago. To his surprise, the room he entered upon passing through the double doors was neat and orderly.  It was completely unimaginable from the barren corridor that continued just outside.

“Damn! I can’t believe they prepared such a comfortable room for that villainess. Even His Majesty the King has been ensnared by that wicked woman’s wiles! How unsightly… There was no need for her to receive such a hospitable room. A cell for criminal would’ve been more than enough!”

Alois made for the writing desk in the corner of the room as he spoke. He was bothered. Although the room should have been unused, there wasn’t even a speck of dust to be found.

He wondered if perhaps the king had ordered a maid to clean it. Even though I specifically ordered no one do anything other than bring meals.

Alois gritted his teeth. He couldn’t even conceive of the possibility that Avril, a criminal, might have voluntarily cleaned the place in order to enjoy a comfortable time as a prisoner and assumed that his orders had been ignored.

Meanwhile, the subordinate who’d been quietly following Alois’ lead seemed to have noticed something.

“??? Somehow, this room has a sweet and pleasant fragrance. Could it be that a wicked woman who ensnares all men gives off such a scent?”

He seemed to have accidentally let his true feelings slip out.

Alois, who was in a foul mood, glared at him.

“Be quiet.”

“M-my deepest apologies.”

“There’s no time to be entertaining such thoughts. Hide this quickly, and leave the room.”

In Alois’s hand was the “National Examination Questions.” Bringing them out was strictly forbidden.

There was no need for an explanation.

Today, Alois had heard that Listeard was going to inspect the castle’s guestroom with the villainess. Thus, he slipped away from prying eyes and came here in order to fabricate evidence.

From the start, Alois had truly believed that Avril had cheated on the examination.

Her answer sheet had been that flawless.  It was to the point that he, who had passed in second place thirty years ago, couldn’t comprehend it.

Thus, convinced that she could not be innocent, he had acted in haste to apprehend her. Yet, no matter how thoroughly he searched, he couldn’t find any evidence.

Still, there’s no way she didn’t cheat… The special envoy of the delegation is without a doubt a highly capable man. If he were pulling the strings behind the scenes, then it could have certainly been completely concealed.

In Alois’ mind, the theory that “Avril achieved the top score” and “everything was by Dylan’s guidance” had already become the truth. As it was the truth, as long as he simply took time to investigate, evidence would surely be found. Planting false evidence was nothing more than a stopgap until then.

The real evidence would be found later after all, so it would not be much of an issue. Not to mention, there were other points of concern.

“By allowing that wicked woman to pass, the total number of successful examinees was increased, and even the number of top scorers was increased from three to four— was this not from adopting the opinion of that special envoy, of the man called Dylan Sherrard.”

Unable to contain his irritation, his muttering echoed within the room.

“That he’d trust a foreign envoy instead of me… What in the world is His Majesty the King thinking? Dylan Sherrard should just accompany that wicked woman to her ruin.”

With that, the “National Examination Questions” was placed upon the desk. Naturally, it was wedged between other books so that it would appear as though it had been hidden.

If he had a maid find it and then make a scandal, not even the King, who had refrained from taking any extreme actions, would be able to protect her.

With that, the wicked woman who disrupted public morals and threw society into disorder would be imprisoned, the troublesome special envoy would atone for his crimes and then be banished, and the King would once more move according to his will.

Above all, Alois was pleased that this would serve as an opportunity to once again distance relations with foreign nations.

“This is how our country has always been protected. This is our nation’s tradition. That young King has been getting carried away lately… He doesn’t understand a thing.”

A sweet fragrance rose from the incense on the desk. Earlier, when his subordinate had mentioned the scent, it had greatly irritated him. Now that he thought it over, he realized that in just a few hours, that villainess would be on her way to the dungeon.

Burning something like this in a dilapidated wing without knowing what will become of her… How carefree. Hmph.

A corner of Alois’ lips curled into a sly grin as he left the room.

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